Looking at the above photos, the lavish floral display and plethora of rosette garnished suits might suggest that this is the stately opening ceremony of some grand civic works project - a monumental feat of civil engineering such as a tunnel linking Japan to the Korean Peninsula perhaps, constructed with the lofty ambition of bringing the two nations closer together.
In fact nothing could be further from the truth. This is in fact the opening ceremony for a new underground car park in Tokyo's Ueno district. The assembled participants do however have just cause for celebration, for it has taken a not insignificant 23 years and a staggering 15.6 Billion Yen - presumably of taxpayers' money - to bring the project to fruition. With 300 car parking spaces over 3 levels, that puts the construction cost per space at a sizeable 52 Million Yen ($530,000).
At an hourly rate of 600Yen, it doesn't appear that taxpayers will be recouping their outlay anytime soon. Even if all 300 spaces were to remain fully occupied without interruption, it would take 10 years for the car park to break even.
Authorities cite difficulties involved in building the subterranean structure under an operating subway line as the key contributing factor resulting in such an inordinate amount of time and money being required to complete the project. You would however have thought that those in power might have done their homework in advance, and that such complications would have precluded the project from receiving a green light from the outset!
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